North European Phenotypes

In the course of history some efforts were made to distinguish between a number racial subtypes according to several competing classification criteria. No agreement was achieved on the number of existing subtypes, and sometimes a considerable overlap came into being between concurrent definitions of subtypes. Currently there is a strong tendency to name racial subtypes after corresponding prehistorical cultures known to have featured a certain dominant phenotype, for instance based on osteologic research, and to avoid the use of the historic denominations obscured by the visual description of color. Some examples of subtypes relevant to the North European geographical area are mentioned here.

The Hallstatt type is the most common Nordic type, mostly mesocephalic, high-vaulted, long and slender, with relatively long legs and a short body, moderately broad shoulders and relatively short arms.

Falid, Dalo-Nordic or "Fälish" is a tall, broad-shouldered, long-headed Nordic phenotype, with big bones and heavy musculature, a mesorrhine nose and short, broad face, most frequently found in north western Europe and is considered to resemble Crô-Magnon most.

The definition of the archaic Brünn phenotype largely coincide with the Falid phenotype. The type owes its definition to Coon and is still found in solution with other elements, mostly in Scandinavia and the British Isles. Specimens of this type, recovered from Brno (Czech Republic), inspired Ales Hrdlicka to his theory of a Neanderthal phase of modern man. Also Trinkhaus, an important modern proponent of the Multi regionality theory, refers to this phenotype to suggest a high degree of Neanderthal admixture to modern man. Anthropological investigation of the Carpathian Basis [5] reveals a high degree of isolation and local continuity here of this same type, being referred to as a Protonordic-Cro-Magnoid type. This type has proved to be strong in the Central European and Bohemian Linear Pottery populations and only lost its local predominance in the Celtic period at the end of prehistory. The virtual disappearance and discontinuity of the type in Central Europe by the arrival of new immigrants has been confirmed by recent investigations on mtDNA.[6][7]

The Borreby are large-headed brachycephals still found as a major population element in north western Europe. This phenotype has been strongly associated to the very expansive prehistoric Beaker cultures. An early Celtic Taurid group in the Carpathian Basin is assumed to derive from Bell Beaker admixed with local, essentially (by early eastern contact gracialized) Protonordic-Cro-Magnoid types.

The Keltic type is tall, slender, moderately broad-shouldered and mesocephalic, low-vaulted, with foreheads of much greater slope than those of the Hallstatt type. The face is relatively long and narrow, the nose is prominent being large and high-bridged. The type is concentrated in the British Isles and the low countries.